Automobile construction



Feb. 7, 1928.

1,658,612 c. R. PATON AUTOMOBILE CONSTRUCTION Filed NOV. 22, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTQR 67 d? 1?, Pafd/I ATTDRNEY Feb. 7, 1928.

c. R. PATON AUTOMOBILE CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 22, 1926 2 She etS-Sheet 2 INVENTORH C'lyde P. fiaz n ATTORNEY;

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1%. IPATON.' Q13 SDUTH BENDp-INDIAIEA,-ASSIGDI'OB TO. TI-FE STUDEEALER COR- PGBELTIQN, F SUUTH REED, ENDIvi-LNA, -AGGRPORAT-I0N-QF- IIEW' JERSEY.

AUTOMOBILE oeivsinnomiou.

Application 'filed isnveniber 122a. "seriaiito. 150,062.

'ithis invention relates to motor vehicle construction and particularly to the con struction of those parts thereof that ai'es'ubject to those violent vibratory"movements coini'n'only'known as shinnnyin g, th-eprincipal object being the provision of a constiuction in which the conditions tending to cause one of the'shimi'nying movements are eliminated, thereby eliminating"the sh'inimying "itself caused by such acenditions.

Another object isto'pi"ovide a construction of the class described in "which the parts attached to and connecting the steering Wheels, and moving i'elative't'o theiront axle, are balanced forwardly "and rearwardly intesp'ect to a'plane passing through the axes of both the steering knuckle king pins.

Another object is to provide a construction of the class described in which the parts attached to and connecting thestee'r'ing Wheels, and moving relative 'to the "front axle, are constructed to effect an equal distribution' of Weight moments forwardly and rearwardly of a plane 'p'as'singthrough the axes of the axle king pins, whereby movement of the axle longitudinally of its length will not tend to causesaid parts to move relative to theaxle.

Another objectis to provide a non-shiniiny'ing construction of the class described wherein those parts connecting the steering wheels and moving relative to the front'axle are balanced in'a plane passing throughthe axes ot the steering king pins, either by the use of balancing masses OT by an arrangement otsuch parts'to elfect a balanced conditien of the same.

Atutther object is to provide'inea'nsfor eliminating the shimmy'ot an existing shimniying structure of the classdescribed, com prising the addition of a mass ozcmasses to such structureand at such'points whereby to balance the parts connectingthe Wheels and movable relative to the'frontaxle, on either side of a plane passing through the axes of the king pins.

The above being among the objects of the )i'ese11t invention, the same consists of certain features of construction and combina tions of parts to be hereinafterdescribed with reference to the accompanying draw illustrate suitable einbodin'ients of the pies out inven inand in which like numerals i to i its parts throughout the several tent vs e i 18 1].- plan'view of'tliet 'ontakle SWilBQl-S ofa niotosvehi'cle to- 1 "otl'i'er co-"opefating mechanism. v is an-elevation of the parts shown in Figure "l, looking trointhe Frear of the vehicle.

' iguieE is "a -sectional view taken on' the iguTeQ. gui'e -s -=a"vieiv corresponding m Fig- UFO but showing the 'pl'esent invention in 1*binzttion with a conventionalfront Wheel ='ctmstiuction. v

lgtll e 5 a plan View coi'i'espondingto figure 1, but ota construction"embodying front wheel brakes "of the type shown in ui'e hin whichthe'conventional arrange the fofpath;hasbeen changed inaccordance with t'h'e present invention. v

"Those violent vibratory movements of the steerii-ig mechanism of in'otor' vehicles which are coinn'ioii'ly lauo'vvn' as shinnnyinig have, since the adventot w pressure tires in the motor vehicle industry, assumed propoitions of concern,- and much time and ener'g have beenjspenti-n an etlfeit to determinethe "luses *and to sit-ea remedies therefor. us and Widely different theories have advanced as to "the causes of shiini'nyi'ng l remedies suggested, and While some such re iediesl iave been successiulfor partiysuccessitul, "in *ie's'pect l to 1 cettain "constructions and certahe'cenditiens,the have not to'my knowledge been successful *in "reni'ovii'ig' one at the sl "inniyingfmovements, which Would indicate that theieal cause"()"h t iiit movement has not been recognized. Others h'ave stteinpted to eliminate shiminving Without n'pting toeliininate the cause, which is \XT plov friction devices to dampen the'nioveinentpt the shimmying; parts, thus defeating the desirable condition of easy steering which they are attempting to "acquire thrcug'hbthei' means. v

After a "thorough investigation of the movements of shiin1j1i ii g"parts of various con tructions, I have observed in shimmying strut 'uies at conventional designs, that when a tire strikes an obstruction in the Stead, the iilittii-Y'Elltls to 'drivethattire upward. When iinessed"bv th'ose constructions which eI'nthis happens, .the front axle and parts connectcd thereto tend to pivot about a point midway between the wheels and a substantial distance above the axle, such as the point X shown in Figure 2, which point may vary according tothe construction of thevehicle under consideration. This pivotal tendency acts to give the front axle a'longitudinal movement, and the axle accordingly attempts to carry with it those parts that are connected thereto and movable therewith, such as the steering knuckles, cross tube arms. cross tube, and front wheel brake mechanism where such brakes are employed, but due to the fact that in all conventional constructionsthe mass of such parts, as a whole, is not balanced on each side of the front axle, or more correctly, on either side of a plane passing through the axes of the king pins, the heavier side resists this movement to a greateriextent than thelighter side, with the result that a rotary movement about the king pins is imparted to the steering knuckles and mechanism carried thereby about their respective king pins. It has been observed that the shimmying movement of the parts referred to is caused to a great extent by a longitudinal reciprocal movement of the front axle combined with a condition of unbalance of these parts in respect to a plane passing through the king pins aspreviously mentioned. This conclusion is borne out to a great extent by the fact that the amplitude of longitudinal movement of the axle is dependent upon the rigidity of the springs connecting the front axle to the chassis frame, and due to the fact that with more rigid spring structures less shimmying results. As the result of these observations I have conceived the present invention which nullifies any tendency of longitudinal movement of the front axle to cause oscillation of the parts connecting the steering wheels and pivoted to the front axle. Although numerous applications of this invention may be made, I show in the accompanying drawings two practical embodiments which will achieve the result intended, but I donot limit the present invention to these constructions.

In Figures 1 and tion which, except for the parts which will afterwards he explained, is conventional and includes a front axle 10 to either end of which are pivotally secured the steering knuckles 11 and 12 by the king pins 13.

' Each knuckle ll and 12 is provided with a rearwardly extending cross tube arm 14, the free ends of which are joined by the cross tube 15 which constrains the wheels to move in a predetermined relation in respect to each other. The wheels 16 are rotatably mounted on spindles (not shown) carried by the knuckles 11 and 12. 'The axle 10 is secured to the chassis frame17 by means 2 is shown a construe of the usual springs 18. A curved arnrlf) projecting in a generally inward direction from the spindle 11 is connected by the usual drag link 20 to the steering gear (not shown). This construction does not employ front wheel brakes as is readily apparent from Figures 1, 2, and 3, and as so far described is conventional in every respect. The new or unconventional parts of the construction shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 are the arms 21 which project forwardly from each knuckle 11 and 12 and each of which is provided with a mass 22 secured to its free end. If these unconventional parts 21 and 22 are disregarded for the moment, it will be noted that the cross tube arms 14 and cross tube 15 all lie on the rearward side of a plane passing through the axes of the king pins 13 and that there is practically nothing forward of such plane to balance the weight thereof. The remainder of the parts, including the knuckles 11 and 12, and other parts connected thereto, are substantially equally disposed on eachside ofthe plane referred to. Now supposing the right hand wheel of Figure 2 is lifted, causing the axle and parts carried thereby to swing about the point X asa center, the axle 10. will be caused to have a relatively longitudinal movement to the right. When the axle 10 thus moves to the right the knuckles 11 and 12, arms 14 and cross tube 15 will tend to be carried along therewith, but due to the fact that the greatest amount of this weight lies on the rear side of the axle 10, as indicated in Figure 1, and will accordingly set up a greater resistance to following the axle 10 than the amount ofweight forward of the same, there will be a tendencytoward relative movement of the knuckles l1 and 12, arms 14 and cross tube 15 in respect to the axle 10, to the left, causing the knuckles 11 and 12 to turn in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1 and therefore turning the wheels 16. Ifthe left wheel 16 is lifted a similar but reversed action of the parts will occur.

In accordance with the present invention, which contemplates the elimination of shimmying due to this relative endwise movementof the axle 10, the arms 21 and weights 22 are provided and are such that they counterbalancethe normally unbalanced condition otthe parts referred to forwardly and rearwardly ot' a lane passing through the axes oi the king pins 13. In other words the weight-moments of the arms21 and weights 22 balance the weight moments of those parts on the rear side of the axle 10 which are normally not balanced, so that should the axlelO be shifted suddenly in the direction of its length, the weight moments of the parts mentioned on each side thereof bal ance each other and the parts move with the axle without changing their relative position'in respect thereto. This, as is readily apparent,removes the cause of shimmying of these parts due to an unbalanced condition thereof in respect to the axle.

In Figure a. the view similar to that of Figure 3 with the exception that a conventional front wheel brake construction is shownin connection therewith. Theknuckle in this case is provided with diagonally extendingarms 23 which serve as a support for the dust cover 2 1 of the brake drum carried by the wheel, and also as an anchor forthe pivoted ds of the brake shoes 26 and as a support for the shaft 2'? of the cam (not shown) which is employed for spreading" the shoes The shaft 527 is provided with a lever128 which is operatively con nected to the lever 29 by a link 30, the lever 29, whose free end is operable substantially in line with the king pin, being formed on the outer end of a shaft 31 supported in the bracket 32 secured to the end of the axle 10. A lever 33 secured to the inner end of the shaft 31 is connected to suitable brake ap plying means (not shown) by means of the rod 34, movement of which causes, through the lovers and links describe-d, rotation of the cam shaft 27 and consequent application of the brake. The lower end of the rear or lower arm 23 in this case is formed to take the place of the arms l l employed in the construction shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, and the cross tube 15 extends directly between these ends. It will be seen that in this construction a greater condition of unbalance exists than in the construction described previously in which no front wheel lOIilKGS were used, and this accounts for the relatively greater tendency of this structure to shimmy in comparison to the first described construction. In this case no extra arm, such as 21 of the previous construction,

need be used as the upper or forwardly extending arm 3 may be employed for this purpose, and a balancing mass secured directly to the extremity thereof to eliect a condition of balance in the structure in accordance with the present invention.

So far the description and explanation have been confined to the balancing of a normally unbalanced structure by the addi tion of balancing masses, and such as to be readily adapted to balance an existing struc ture, but it will be apparent that a structure may be designed in accordance with the present invention without the addition of such masses and yet result in'a balanced structure. Although a variety of structures may be used to attain this conditionogf hal ance, I show in Figure 5 one construction which illustrates this phase of the present invention. In order to simplify the description and explanation of this construction a case is taken in which a front wheel brake construction of the type shown in Figure links 30, levers 28, shafts 2?, etc, are at the rear of the front axlelt) on both wheels 16, and the wheels are constrained to move in a predetermined relation to each other by a cross tube (as 15 in Fig. a) which isentirely to theqrear of the axle 10. This construction, as previously pointed out, without the addition of balancing massearesults in a highly unbalanced condition of the structure, but by using my invention as .indicated in Figure 5,-this stnictureomay.:be placed in aconditicn of balance without the addition of balancing masses. This isueffected by taking the identical brakelstructune "of the left hand wheel, with thec-ex ception of the arm 19 which is only employed on that side, and using it on the right hanc side of the axle. The positions of the parts of the brake structure on the right hand wheel are thus reversed, in fore and aft relation to the axle 10, with respect to the parts of the brake structure on the left hand wheel. In other words, the arm 23 on the right brake extends forwardly and downwardly while the arm 23 on the left hand wheel extends rearwardly and downw rdly, and while on the left hand wheel the shaft 27, lever 28 and link 30 are to the rear of the axle 10, the same parts on the right hand side of the axle l0 lie to the front of the axle 10. The lever 33, which would ordinarily slant downwardly to the rear by using the identical construction for both brakes, is preferably turned to slant downwardly to the front so that the right hand brake rod 34 will act in tension when applying the brakes. Although this acts to put one link 30 in compression and the other link 30 in tension, this is not particularly objectionable. instead of the usual cross rod (such as 15in the constructions previously described) two short cross rods 36 are employed, one of which lies forwardly of the axle 10 and the other of which lies to the rear thereof, thus balancing each other. The inner end of each cross rod 36 is connected to the opposite extremities of a lever 37 pivoted midway between its ends at 38 to the center ot the axle 10 so as to swing in a, substantially horizontal plane. The wheels 16 are thus constrained to the same relative stance of broad invention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an automobile, in combination with a front axle, steering knuckles pivotally mounted on said axle, oppositely disposed arms on each of said knuckles, across tube connecting said arms on the same side of said axle, and means for balancing said knuckles, arms and cross tube forwardly and rearwardly of said axle comprising Weights secured to the arms forwardly of said axle.

2. In an automobile, a front axle, front Wheels having brakes including dust covers supported by said steeringknuckles pivoted to said axle, means for steering said Wheels, brake operating mechanism supported by said steering knuckles, and weights mounted on said dust covers on the side of the axle opposite the steering means to equalize the weight moments thereof forwardly and rearwardly of a plane passing through the axis of the steering knuckles. l In an automobile, Front Wheels having brakes thereon, a front axle, steering knuckles supporting said Wheels pivoted to said axle, brake operating mechanism sup ported by said knuckles, a steering cross-tube positioned rcarwardly of said axle connect ing said knuckles, and weights positioned forwardly of said axle connected to said knuckles to balance the Weight moments of said knuckles, brake mechanism, and crosstube forwardly and rearwardly of said axle. Signed by me at South Bend, Indiana, this 18th day of November, 1926.

CLYDE R. PATON. 

